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US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

theguardian.com

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Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#221

Post by Supermancho »

rsj_hn wrote: post #196
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Poor people are a large majority? Like, 2/3? 3/4? Over the last generation, indications are far over half experienced regular struggles. 2019 - nearly 70 percent of Americans have less than $1,000 stashed away https://www.statista.com/chart/20323/americans-lack-savings/ 2021 - Firehosing cash directly to the public helped some: 25% had no emergency savings, 26% say they have some emergency savings https://www.cnbc.…

> Over the last generation, indications are far over half experienced regular struggles. Most people experience "regular struggles", by definition. Life is a struggle. But we have a way of defining who is poor and who isn't in terms of income, and it's good to use the same language as everyone else. The "large majority" of the U.S. is not poor. That's just obviously true from the income data I cited. If that data is…

> Median Household networth of 25-49.9 percentile is $58K. Also not not poor.

Hell, as a yearly income, that's poor much less a networth. Not destitute, but definitely poor. You can't afford to live anywhere near a city and probably live in a trailer or worse (shack with limited services). The metric is by household, so no splitting with roommates.

Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#222

Post by throwawaygh »

starkd wrote: post #65
nimbius wrote: post #26

You need to take this seriously. the reason you should be concerned about these prices in relation to their 2008 crisis prices is because the countermeasure that resulted in 2008 relief --Quantitative Easing-- cannot be used again because we effectively never quit using it to prop up the last decade of commercial market performance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing#US_QE4 the Federal reserve also has…

Not sure how Amazon can "step in" and raise wages will somehow save this. Earlier raises in the minimum wage have been largely erased by inflation already. Another round of raises just pushes prices up more.

More to the point, raising wages (caused by union contracts that pegged wages to inflation) was the root cause of 70s stagflation. OP is horribly confused about basically everything, and to the extent that he's correct about some conclusions it's entirely by accident.

Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#223

Post by rsj_hn »

Supermancho wrote: post #221
rsj_hn wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Over the last generation, indications are far over half experienced regular struggles. Most people experience "regular struggles", by definition. Life is a struggle. But we have a way of defining who is poor and who isn't in terms of income, and it's good to use the same language as everyone else. The "large majority" of the U.S. is not poor. That's just obviously true from the income data I cited. If that data is…

> Median Household networth of 25-49.9 percentile is $58K. Also not not poor. Hell, as a yearly income, that's poor much less a networth. Not destitute, but definitely poor. You can't afford to live anywhere near a city and probably live in a trailer or worse (shack with limited services). The metric is by household, so no splitting with roommates.

> Hell, as a yearly income, that's poor much less a networth.

Not really, because this is primarily young people who are building savings. By retirement age, the savings are much higher even for the median household. Even in the 45-54 cohort, the median networth is 168K. By the time you reach 55-64, median HH income is $213K. Post-retirement, 65-74, median network is $266K. Then it starts to decline as people spend down their savings, so 75 and over it's $254K.

I mean, I guess you can call whatever you want "poor", but we have standard definitions for these things.

And an income of $58K is not "poor" for any age, but FYI median household income for all ages is north of $70K.

Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#224

Post by IAmWorried »

In reality it's a lot higher than 6%. You have to understand that the CPI is utter crap. They have continually adjusted the definition of it over time to make inflation seem not as bad as it actually is. It doesn't include house prices, equity prices, college tuition, etc. And the number generated from the remaining categories is dragged down by cheap software and electronics.

In reality I'd say inflation is closer to 60% than 6%.

The gaslighting is unbelievable. Now they are saying that spending trillions in ridiculous handouts will LOWER inflation!? Are you freaking kidding me?

Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#225

Post by IAmWorried »

wbsss4412 wrote: post #89
starkd wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All you have to do is look at the Fed balance sheet to get an inkling of what's going on. They are monetizing the debt. Inflation is a very simple concept to understand. It's too many dollars facing too few goods. I understand no one wants a panic, but you also don't want to bury your head in the sand.

6% inflation is nothing to panic over. People equate the fed not hitting their 2% target with hyperinflation and it’s absolutely maddening to see the level of discourse drop to astounding lows when this happens.

6% is only looking at the CPI. Factor in equity prices, housing prices, tuition prices, and suddenly there is a lot more reason to panic.

Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#226

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

rsj_hn wrote: post #213
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people experience "regular struggles", by definition. Life is a struggle. This seems obtuse. The entire thread is focused on finances. It should be self-evident my post is referring to financial struggles. > But we have a way of defining who is poor and who isn't in terms of income, and it's good to use the same language as everyone else. Different metrics aren't a different language. > The "large majority" of…

> Different metrics aren't a different language. You aren't citing a "different metric". You are citing an unscientific internet poll by Bankrate.com, whose results were released as a PR announcement meant to encourage people to open savings accounts. The "no savings" means "no money in a savings account" by those who answer the poll. You know nothing about whether these people were even in the labor force, how old t…

> You aren't citing a "different metric". You are citing an unscientific internet poll by Bankrate.com

Again, this seems obtuse. It is interesting that your inference of a single poll ignores the many (well publicized) savings studies, that are regularly conducted by a wide number of organizations.

> I am citing the gold-standard study of household finances conducted by the Federal Reserve regularly since the 1970s

That's nice. Metrics adopted in the 1970s based on data from even earlier decades doesn't universally inspire the confidence that you seem to feel. I'd offer that metrics that well reflect the ~entirety of America who faces a meaningful risk of losing housing/medicine/food would likely be the metrics that most matter to people facing those risks.

Otherwise it feels similar to hearing the unemployment rate is 4.9% while >24% of 16-64 aren't working.

Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#227

Post by trenning »

I'm about to go full vegetarian with these food prices.

Beef has been too expensive for years, the only beef I've bought for years from grocery stores is bulk pack ground on sale but now on sale is $7/lb.

Chicken breast has been my main staple, on sale usually for $2-3/lb, now it's on sale at $5/lb for the cheap bulk packs.

Around me it's a wash to cook at home or eat out (at small restaurants/food trucks). I expect restaurants to jack up the prices more soon because they've been fairly sticky.

Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#228

Post by dominotw »

boringg wrote: post #27

Hey everyone - we need to chill out for a second. Stop buying the knee jerk reaction of the media trying to freak everyone out and get some good advertising dollars. This is going to take until after the new year maybe Q1-Q3 timeframe to see if it is transitory. Reminder: we had an unprecedented global supply collapse followed by shutdowns and border closures for more than a year combined with historic levels of fast…

> This is going to take until after the new year maybe Q1-Q3 timeframe to see if it is transitory.

Is there any logic behind this timeline prediction?

Re: US inflation jumps to 31-year high amid global supply chain crisis

#229

Post by wbsss4412 »

IAmWorried wrote: post #225
wbsss4412 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6% inflation is nothing to panic over. People equate the fed not hitting their 2% target with hyperinflation and it’s absolutely maddening to see the level of discourse drop to astounding lows when this happens.

6% is only looking at the CPI. Factor in equity prices, housing prices, tuition prices, and suddenly there is a lot more reason to panic.

Housing, tuition and equity prices have been skyrocketing for the last decade and no one panicked.

Has tuition even notably increased in the last 12 months?

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